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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “admin theme”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “admin theme”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Clean WP Admin Theme – Simple design shows at wp.org #7 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Easy Updates Manager places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 724 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (424) wp.org #1 2 Theme My Login 50K+ · 3.7★ (460) wp.org #2 3 Admin Menu Editor 300K+ · 4.6★ (312) wp.org #3 4 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4340) wp.org #5 ↑5 1 too low 5 Theme Check 20K+ · 4.8★ (195) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too low 6 Disable Admin Notices – Hide Dashboard Notifications 100K+ · 4.7★ (366) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 Xpro Theme Builder For Elementor – FREE 20K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 Theme Switcha – Easily Switch Themes for Development and Testing 7K+ · 4.4★ (63) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too high 9 Theme Editor 50K+ · 4.6★ (128) wp.org #10 ↓2 1 too low 10 WP Rollback – Rollback Plugins and Themes 300K+ · 4.9★ (215) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 Child Theme Wizard 10K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #12 1 too low 12 Easy Updates Manager 300K+ · 4.8★ (724) wp.org #23 11 too low 13 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5018) wp.org #22 9 too low 14 Create Block Theme 20K+ · 4.8★ (37) wp.org #14 ↑1 15 Controlled Admin Access 10K+ · 4.8★ (45) wp.org #18 3 too low 16 View Admin As 9K+ · 4.9★ (49) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 Add Admin CSS 10K+ · 4.9★ (35) wp.org #21 ↓2 4 too low 18 UiPress lite | Effortless custom dashboards, admin themes and pages 6K+ · 4.1★ (21) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Google Sheets Sync, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (50) wp.org #19 ↑2 20 C Cryout Serious Theme Settings 40K+ · 4.3★ (16) wp.org #15 ↓2 5 too high 21 Generate Child Theme 9K+ · 4.3★ (15) wp.org #13 ↑1 8 too high 22 Admin Notices Manager 10K+ · 4.9★ (21) wp.org #24 ↓1 2 too low 23 Clean WP Admin Theme – Simple design 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #7 ↓1 16 too high 24 Weaver Xtreme Theme Support 8K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #17 7 too high

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.